A Journalist, Scott Larson, with the Independent Media Project, was covering the events on May 25, 2005 at the Women’s Center and Police Department in Garden Grove, CA. Scott Larson is an adjunct instructor of Ethics and Philosophy, a health care worker, and he has volunteered for the Independent Media Project in New York City, Washington DC, and Los Angeles. Mr. Larson was one of the journalists video taping the protest. He started to tape Officer Lawton (Badge 4887) when he began to harass and intimidate a peaceful protestor at the Police Department. Officer Lawton saw that Mr. Larson was video tapping, and he stopped his misconduct. After Mr. Larson turned his video camera off, the officer approached him and asked him to step aside. Officer Lawton began writing a citation to the journalist. When Mr. Larson asked the officer what he was being cited for, he asked, “Is this police harassment?” Officer Lawton turned to Mr. Larson, smiled, and replied, “Yes”.

Mr. Larson went to court on Wednesday, June 29, 2005, hoping to explain to the judge, Kenneth Schwartz (Superior Court, West Justice Center), the reason the ticket was issued, and to seek a just outcome. Judge Schwartz, according to Mr. Larson, “seemed to be preoccupied with moving people through the system as quickly as possible, and did not allow the opportunity for people to address the court”. The fine that was imposed on Mr. Larson was $336.00. Though this is not a very extreme case, as activists have been dealing with physical assaults by officers (some with weapons), arbitrary arrests, and violations of privacy over things as stupid as a police flash light, this is merely another example of Garden Grove Police Department’s blatant harassment, suppression of constitutional rights, and complete disregard for the values of a free society. Scott Larson was quoted saying, “The Garden Grove Police Department has evolved into Nazi Stromtroopers, attacking not only descent, but anyone willing to provide news coverage to them.” Though many believe that we still have a free press, Mr. Larson disagrees, “the press is not free, it cost me over $300, but it is important that everyone stands up to corruption like this.” Scott Larson paid his fine and pledged to continue to cover events like this, and to get more involved during election periods to expose incumbents that have used their political power to attack civil liberties and the free press.

Mr. Larson provided the City Council of Garden Grove with video evidence of police misconduct. The City Council has decided that they do not want to investigate the actions of their police. Mr. Larson has decided to publicly release the video he provided in hopes that pressure can be brought against the Garden Grove Police, and the people they have been actively intimidating and harassing can have justice. The link is below. It is a large file because it was a DVD that has been transfer into a Mpeg file. Mr. Larson maintains copyrights for the video, but will allow media to use it for reporting purposes.

http://www.galaxywebhosting.com/Temp/May25th.mpg

Scott Larson was charged with improperly disposing of a cigarette, though he does not believe that the citation had anything to do with that act.

Scott Larson is a good man. this is blatant political persecution of someone who is clearly a threat to police/political powers. because Scott is brave and talented and can provide journalism expertise to show who did what on the night of the 25th, the cops will NEVER like him. why? because that evidence will, in fact, exonerate those who have been arrested. furthermore, they will continue to harass Scott and others who do this work.

when they approached him about the cigarette butt, they were PISSED. you can see the heat coming off them, they were boiling!, seething at the mouth... especially Lawton. and for what? for tossing a cigarette butt? for an infraction? no, how could it be that when a brief survey of the immediate area shows various other cigarette butts thrown haphazardly on their grounds? did all those people receive tickets? this is clearly harassment and POLITICAL DISCRIMINATION because it is selective enforcement of an individual who has been determined by them to be a POLITICAL ENEMY.

this is the police state, people. wake up. this is what Amerikkka was founded on and continues to be.

Scott Larson is a good man. this is blatant political persecution of someone who is clearly a threat to police/political powers. because Scott is brave and talented and can provide journalism expertise to show who did what on the night of the 25th, the cops will NEVER like him. why? because that evidence will, in fact, exonerate those who have been arrested. furthermore, they will continue to harass Scott and others who do this work.

when they approached him about the cigarette butt, they were PISSED. you can see the heat coming off them, they were boiling!, seething at the mouth... especially Lawton. and for what? for tossing a cigarette butt? for an infraction? no, how could it be that when a brief survey of the immediate area shows various other cigarette butts thrown haphazardly on their grounds? did all those people receive tickets? this is clearly harassment and POLITICAL DISCRIMINATION because it is selective enforcement of an individual who has been determined by them to be a POLITICAL ENEMY.

this is the police state, people. wake up. this is what Amerikkka was founded on and continues to be.

Till I read you are part of the "Independent Media Center". LMFAO. You people are not journalists, you're hacks!

New from the Orange County Organizer:

Anti-immigrant sentiment has once again reached a fevered pitch across America. From California to the New York Island, many self-proclaimed protectors of the homeland are rejecting the creed of the Woody Guthrie song that was once taught to America’s school children: “this land is my land, this land is your land…this land was made for you and me.”

Minutemen Project founder, Jim Gilchrist, says “illegal” immigrant “economic refugees” from Mexico are part of an insurrection designed to make everyone in America speak Spanish. He wants to end it all by packing 20 million Mexicans into busses, planes and Amtrak cars to be sent back to Mexico in the hopes of starting a revolution there that will redistribute the wealth among that country’s poor. And by the way, he hates Green Party guy Duane Roberts, but voted for Green Party guy Peter Camejo for governor. Read the entire interview here: http://www.ocorganizer.com/html/immigration.html


On a much saner level, University of California, Irvine, Social Sciences Professor Gilbert G. Gonzalez says it’s true that Mexican immigrants are becoming increasingly segregated, and poor, throughout America, but that only an end to a century of US Imperialism in Mexico will solve our immigration problems. He talks in-depth about the history of American economic colonialism in Mexico, how it continues to destroy Mexico’s economy and cause mass migration to the United States, and the paternalistic racism used to justify it all. Read all about it at: http://www.ocorganizer.com/html/gilbert.html

On a related note, a short history of the Orange County Citrus Wars, 1936: “To appease the citrus growers, the county supervisors allowed the sheriff to deputize over 400 men and arm them to the teeth with shotguns, pistols, tear gas bombs and 200 ft. range gas guns...” Read more about it at: http://www.ocorganizer.com/html/citrus_wars.html

Your comments, ideas, and help are welcomed in the efforts of the Orange County Organizer to promote a coalition of grassroots labor, environmental and peace organizing behind the Orange Curtain.

Sincerely,
John Earl
Publisher
Orange County Organizer

Scott Larson is an independent journalist (NOT a corporate slave) who reports for IMC, an independent media project. What part of any of that makes him a "hack"? If you detest independent media, you should just say so, but don't bash the good name and character of Scott Larson by undermining his journalistic abilities (and doing so without any evidence, might I add).

Why don't you flesh out your ideas a little more, instead of coming onto this site and leaving your droplets of drivel. You know, they *barely* make any sense. It is unintelligent and incoherent to just bash people's good name when you could be illustrating your position on important matters. So, if you care even a smidge about the foundation of a free society, let's see the development of your half-witted remarks into fully informed positions.

Consider this a challenge. Cast it off and forever be considered a fucking moron.

Quote:
"Till I read you are part of the "Independent Media Center". LMFAO. You people are not journalists, you're hacks!"
----------------------
You need to sit down and think about what you are saying. I will admit that all news has its biases. But if you think that FOX, CNN, MSNBC, or any of the corporate media is "more creditable" than us, you are living with a paper bag over your head. They report in a way that will assert their interests. Fox is a spokes channel for the neo-conservatives that now (following Bush’s lead) talks about those “Evil Terrorists killing innocent American Solders in Iraq”. CNN reports that Venezuela and Haiti are nations that are run by evil dictators and they want to provoke the US into a confrontation (well, Haiti is past tense since we already kidnapped their democratically elected president and placed a dictator in power who would be good to us interests). Indymedia is an open news wire that allows the people to report what they have seen and heard to allow the people a voice over and beyond what corporations want people to believe. If you don’t think the story is getting out in the way it should, it is your responsibility to publish your side. That is what the project is about. But as your racist little punk group sits there and whines about how indymedia sucks, you go through life choosing what to believe, not by what is true and what is false, but by what advances your position and what does not. That is why you listen to that KFI radio station (which is often far more inaccurate and contradictory than this source, Fox News, or even the dope addict, Rush Limbaugh).

Part of the reason the IMC exists is to allow people to reclaim journalism from the journalism business. Journalism is simple: you see something happening, you talk to people to get input, take photos or video, write up a story, and publish it.

When is OC IMC starting?

>Till I read you are part of the "Independent Media Center". LMFAO. You people are not journalists, you're hacks!

A hack is someone who writes for money.

From the dictionary: " A writer hired to produce routine or commercial writing." No other definition of writer came up.

IMC writers are not paid, therefore, hey are not hacks.

> Part of the reason the IMC exists is to allow people
> to reclaim journalism from the journalism business.

And it's been judged in court that news outlets have no legal constraints to be truthful in their coverage. FOX "News" was found innocent and a Judge ruled that FOX could lie to their viewers with legal immunity.

It's come to the point where "news" is entertainment and outright lies, all of it tailored to empty the pockets of the gullible and ignorant for the wealth of Repoublican extremists.

Well, if there is a video, it's not at the link you provided.

The link does not seem to work any longer. I am not going to be able to fix it until after the 20th, but it will be back. Copies of the video have been given to people in the press, the city council, and selected activists. I will soon have it back on the open wire. Do to its size, I will need to find a server to host it.

December 14, 2005

Garden Grove Police Department

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

I’ll begin by saying that I had many reservations about filing this complaint, in view of all the negatives comments one hears and reads about law enforcement. I’m a sixty four year old citizen of Garden Grove.

The incident I experienced last night (December 15), leaves me no doubt that there’s truth about the many negatives things said about police officers. Let me begin:

A fatal accident took place right across from my property, the house I have occupied for almost thirty years. The neighbors who live only a few feet where this incident took place, called me on the phone to tell me that the father of their next door neighbor, a fine man whom I’ve known for a long time, was the victim of the accident. Something happened to the phone communication and I went outside to see if I could go across the street to be with my neighbors. Let me also explain that there were no yellow tape or any other form of street blockade but I asked one of the officers, a fine African American motorcycle patrolman who was very courteous and helpful. Suddenly I noticed one of my neighbors trying to communicate with me across the street and I had to raise my voice to tell her to call me back. At this time, this other officer who was talking to a lady and had a large paper pad, screamed at me asking if I hadn’t noticed that he was conducting an investigation. My immediate reaction to that was to ask him in a very low and calm voice: "Do you have to talk to me in that tone of voice". The man, raising his voice to a higher dB level, said: "GO AWAY, NOW!!!".

The African American officer having witnessed this, came to me and in a very courteous manner told me how to go across the street to be with my neighbors. By then, having heard that one of my neighbors had died and having experienced a demonstration of despotic mannerism from someone whom I’m supposed to be paying his salary, left me in a terrible state of despair and disgust.

Now, I assumed that nothing will ever come out of this complaint and that my sentiments will fall on deaf ears, but let me remind you that these type of incidents are at the very root of why only a rapidly diminishing number of citizens come forward to assist the police force, and even though I’m tempted to give the majority the benefit of the doubt, it is nevertheless, unsympathetic, badly trained, young bullies like this guy who give the rest of you a bad note.

Who is he? I was terrified to go and ask any of the other people for THIS man’s name, but he was a blond motor cycle patrolman, wearing high boots, between thirty and forty years of age and if I was allowed, I’d be more that happy to point him out. HE is someone I will never forget and God forbids that HE gets into a more serious problem because I’ll be there to add my name to whomever decides to file another complaint and believe me, the way he goes about his business is at best amateurish and no doubt, you’ll be hearing more complaints about him.

The police department and the citizens they’re supposed to protect, should work hand in hand if we wish to make the community a better and safe place to live.

Sincerely,


R. J. Moran

11462 Tacoma Street
Garden Grove, California 90840